02/25/1997 08:05 AM House STA

 HB 112 - AMEND DEFINITION OF "POLITICAL PARTY"                              
                                                                               
 The next order of business to come before the House State Affairs             
 Standing Committee was HB 112, "An Act amending the definition of             
 `political party' except as the definition of the term applies to             
 the regulation of contributions and expenditures in state and                 
 municipal election campaigns, an amendment that also has the effect           
 of changing the definition of `political organization' as applied             
 to the regulation of games of chance and contests of skill."                  
                                                                               
 CHAIR JAMES called on Representative Al Vezey, sponsor of HB 112,             
 to present the bill.                                                          
                                                                               
 Number 0755                                                                   
                                                                               
 REPRESENTATIVE AL VEZEY explained that HB 112 was an endeavor to              
 change the nature of the general election for statewide offices.              
 Currently, the system included a primary election and then "I would           
 characterize this thing-a lottery-that followed that."  There had             
 been candidates elected to statewide offices, most notably to                 
 governor, that had received as little as 36 percent of the votes.             
 It had been a long time since anyone received more than 42 percent            
 of the votes.  One of the reasons was because current election law            
 encouraged groups of people who wanted to call themselves a                   
 political party to run a candidate for governor.  "That is our                
 measurement of how we establish a political party for most of                 
 Alaska Statutes."  House Bill 112 would change that by creating               
 another option to establish a political party.  It did not take               
 away the right of people to get together and run a candidate for              
 governor and qualify as a political party, but rather the bill                
 provided an alternative for groups to be recognized as a party.  He           
 explained that the figure 10,000 was equivalent to approximately 3            
 percent of the votes, in the last general election.  In addition,             
 the party did not have to run a candidate for governor to retain              
 its qualification, and it was hopeful that if the bill became law             
 as many as three parties would no longer feel a need to throw a               
 candidate into the general election.                                          
                                                                               
 Number 0934                                                                   
                                                                               
 REPRESENTATIVE IVAN asked Representative Vezey if this would allow            
 the undeclared or undecided voters to form a political party?                 
                                                                               
 Number 0951                                                                   
                                                                               
 REPRESENTATIVE VEZEY replied, "Not declaring a party affiliation              
 under this bill would not classify those people as a member of a              
 political party."  However, if they wished to create a party called           
 "undeclared" or "independent" and they got 10,000 registered voters           
 then it would become a political party.  There would still be on              
 the voter registration card a category, by default, called                    
 "undeclared."                                                                 
                                                                               
 Number 1041                                                                   
                                                                               
 JAMES BALDWIN, Assistant Attorney General, Governmental Affairs               
 Section, Civil Division, Department of Law, explained that the                
 definition of a "political party" involved substantial litigation             
 in the past, particularly over the 3 percent requirement.  He cited           
 the Vogler case where the threshold was reduced from 10 percent to          
 3 percent.  It was possible to add another threshold, but he                  
 believed the legislature should create a record to justify the                
 10,000 registered voter requirement.  "It just isn't something                
 that, I think, that can be done arbitrarily and successfully                  
 defended."  There needed to be a compelling interest on the part of           
 the state to impose such a limitation, and it needed to be the                
 least restrictive.  He did not know how the sponsor arrived at the            
 10,000 figure, but until that was put into a record, there wasn't             
 much to defend.                                                               
                                                                               
 MR. BALDWIN further stated there was the issue of political                   
 affiliation disclosure.  He cited a federal case, NAACP v. Button           
 where it was found that there was a strong First Amendment right to           
 keep one's political affiliation private.  In addition, the largest           
 percentage of the registered voters in Alaska were non-partisan or            
 no-party.  He assumed that was because Alaskans did not like to               
 disclose their party affiliation publicly.  Therefore, one                    
 unintended result would be to require a disclosure of one's party             
 affiliation in order to qualify for the second prong of the                   
 proposed definition.                                                          
                                                                               
 MR. BALDWIN further stated, in its current form, the department did           
 not support the bill.                                                         
                                                                               
 Number 1250                                                                   
                                                                               
 CHAIR JAMES asked Mr. Baldwin if he had any suggestions?  If the              
 bill said "registered voters or 3 percent of the last election,"              
 for example, what would that do?  It still made a person disclose             
 his or her party affiliation.  What if a person did not have to do            
 disclose it every time, for example?                                          
                                                                               
 Number 1280                                                                   
                                                                               
 MR. BALDWIN replied there was a problem tracking political                    
 affiliation.  Voter registrations were open and available to the              
 public.  They were a valuable tool to the political parties and to            
 campaigns.  "One option that could be considered would be some                
 limited way of making this information confidential perhaps to the            
 administration that's making that determination as to whether or              
 not they met the basic threshold."  Consequently, the political               
 parties would not have access to the information that they valued.            
                                                                               
 Number 1358                                                                   
                                                                               
 GAIL FENUMIAI, Election Coordinator, Central Office, Division of              
 Elections, Office of the Lieutenant Governor, stated the division             
 believed that this new definition of a political party would be an            
 additional expense and be administratively burdensome.  Presently,            
 the division tracked party affiliation of only the recognized                 
 parties.  She cited:  Democrat, Republican, Alaskan Independence,             
 Green, Undeclared, Non-Partisan, and Other.  The voter registration           
 system was not set up to handle a wide variety of other political             
 party affiliations that somebody could put down if they checked the           
 "other" category.  At present, they were all lumped together into             
 this category.  She reiterated this bill would cause some problems            
 for the division.                                                             
                                                                               
 Number 1429                                                                   
                                                                               
 REPRESENTATIVE HODGINS asked Ms. Fenumiai if she saw any advantages           
 of the bill if the logistics were in place?                                   
                                                                               
 Number 1438                                                                   
                                                                               
 MS. FENUMIAI replied she could not see any other advantage other              
 than creating another avenue for a group of people to become a                
 political party.                                                              
                                                                               
 Number 1458                                                                   
                                                                               
 KEN JACOBUS, Legal Counsel, Republican Party of Alaska, was the               
 first person to testify via teleconference in Anchorage.  He                  
 supported HB 112.  He called it a good idea and it should be                  
 passed.  A small political party should not have to undertake the             
 expensive gubernatorial campaign each election to retain its                  
 status.  He agreed with Mr. James Baldwin that a legislative record           
 was needed.                                                                   
                                                                               
 MR. JACOBUS further stated that the parties would oppose any                  
 confidentiality of the records.  He referred the committee members            
 to a memorandum dated January 29, 1997, from Mr. Jack chenoweth,              
 Legislative Counsel, and stated consideration should be given to              
 making a uniform definition of a "political party" throughout the             
 Alaska Statutes.  There were two definitions now, and if the bill             
 was enacted there would be three.  Moreover, the Republican Party             
 of Alaska had a problem with the issue of defining a political                
 party for the purpose of campaign financing.  The legislature                 
 should consider input from all of the political parties to ensure             
 that the parties did not have any problems.                                   
                                                                               
 Number 1571                                                                   
                                                                               
 CHAIR JAMES asked Mr. Jacobus if he would comment on the issue of             
 the constitutionality of the bill addressed earlier by Mr. James              
 Baldwin?                                                                      
                                                                               
 Number 1580                                                                   
                                                                               
 MR. JACOBUS replied the NAACP v. Button case dealt with disclosure          
 of the membership records of the NAACP which was a different issue.           
 "I don't think you're really going to run into a problem because a            
 political party will have two ways now in order to exercise its               
 right to political affiliation."  He cited the 3 percent route and            
 the 10,000 route.  The 10,000 route was a free choice because                 
 registered voters needed to be obtained.  "I don't see that it's a            
 big problem, myself."                                                         
 Number 1648                                                                   
                                                                               
 CHAIR JAMES called for a motion to move the bill out of the                   
 committee.                                                                    
                                                                               
 Number 1650                                                                   
                                                                               
 REPRESENTATIVE DYSON moved that HB 112 move from the committee with           
 the attached fiscal note(s) and individual recommendations.  There            
 was no objection, HB 112 was so moved from the House State Affairs            
 Standing Committee.